Edna Albertson

Edna Albertson (1970-) was First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998.

Biography
Edna Albertson was born in Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland in 1970 to a Presbyterian Ulster Scots family. Albertson worked as a lawyer for the victims of The Troubles before entering politics with the moderate Ulster Unionist Party. In 1998, with the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly following the Good Friday Agreement, Albertson was chosen as her party's leader ahead of the upcoming NIA elections, as she was young and moderate. The Ulster unionist parties won 17 of the 30 NIA seats, followed by the Irish republicans with 11 seats and the neutral APNI with 2 seats. The two largest parties were Lilian Gerry's DUP with 32.64% of the vote and 10 seats and Albertson's UUP with 24.48% of the vote and 7 seats, and the republican parties begrudgingly backed the moderate Albertson over the right-wing and hardline Protestant Gerry; Albertson was elected over Gerry in a 19-11 vote.

Tenure
The new NIA's first action was to vote 19-3 in favor of Sinn Fein's proposed public housing bill; it also voted 27-2 to approve agriculture research, 15-5 to approve a housing tax, 16-5 to approve an agricultural subsidy, and 13-8 against party funding. In the elections of late 1998, the DUP dropped to 29.65% of the vote and 9 seats, the UUP rose to 25.52% and 8 seats, the SDLP fell to 19.63% and 6 seats, Sinn Fein rose to 21.16% and 6 seats, and the APNI fell to 4.04% and 1 seat. The balance of power was slightly altered, with the unionists maintaining their majority of 17 seats, the republicans increasing to 12 seats, and the APNI falling to just one seat. Sinn Fein and the UUP both gained seats, showing wider support for moderation on the Ulster unionist side and wider support for republicanism on the nationalist side. In a 21-7 vote, Albertson easily won a second term, defeating Gerry once again.